Bueckers is projected to be selected first overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, right, gestures toward guard Paige BueckersAP.
Last week, the UConn Huskies suffered their first loss of the season, falling to Notre Dame 79-68. The loss served as a wake-up call for the team coached by Geno Auriemma, reminding them that while they are perennial title favorites – Auriemma boasts 11 NCAA Division I national championships, the most in women’s college basketball history – the possibility of a loss always looms, even with his 17 undefeated conference seasons, six of which were undefeated overall seasons, and the star he has on Paige Bueckers, and let’s not forget that the team they lost to, Notre Dame, might be a rival come late March.
Of course, the key figure on this loaded UConn team is Paige Bueckers, who is widely considered to be the favorite to be selected first overall in the upcoming WNBA Draft.
Paige, of course, has her sights set on winning a National Championship in her last year, something Caitlin Clark, who went No. 1 in last year’s draft, couldn’t do. Clark, as good as she was in college, couldn’t win the title in the two times she got to the National Championship game.
In her freshman year back in 2021, Paige led UConn to the title game but, much like Clark this year, fell short against South Carolina.
Coach Auriemma on Paige and the Foul Calls
Like Caitlin Clark, Bueckers has a reputation for talking, confronting, and complaining to the referees about almost everything – mainly because both players spend so much time on the ball and their handball skills draw constant fouls.
This season, however, the complaints have become more frequent as Paige often feels contact and thinks she’s being fouled while attempting acrobatic shots that sometimes go in and sometimes don’t.
Compared to other top players like Juju Watkins (73 free throws) or Hannah Hidalgo (67), Paige has been called for fewer fouls, with just 28 trips to the line.
Says coach Geno Auriemma: “She goes in there, throws up something crazy, and it goes in. Then she wants to know why she didn’t get a foul call.
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Another key reason the team hasn’t been to the free-throw line often overall – they’ve made just 63 so far this season – is their focus on shooting from beyond the arc rather than attacking the paint, a hallmark of today’s “modern” style of basketball.
“We’re not going to the free-throw line because we’re shooting a lot more threes than we did last year,” Auriemma said. Whether that message resonates with the referees remains to be seen, but Paige could get more opportunities at the line starting with tonight’s game against Iowa State.
In the 10 games the Huskies have played this season, Paige has attempted four or more free throws in just three games, with six being her highest total. Despite this, Paige still leads the team in scoring, averaging 20 points and 4.2 assists in 30 minutes per game.
Her next big opportunity to showcase her talent in the national spotlight will come Saturday against USC and Juju Watkins in their first head-to-head matchup of the season. So far, the Huskies seem poised to join UCLA, Notre Dame and USC in a dream Final Four come March, but there’s still a long season ahead.
